FCS Programs Most Likely to Move Up Due to Conf. Realignment

[UNI88]

It makes NO sense since the Big 12 is dead.

Agreed - seriously, where are some guys getting the idea that nothing major is about to (and is) happening? Most likely the end of the Big 12 (well, that's actually happened now) and the Big East may not be far behind. The MWC is in the ascendancy right now and we're probably looking at 5 major conferences.

It is possible, unlikely but possible, that Texas decides to stay put and anchors the Big 12. The Big 12 then needs to replace Nebraska and Colorado. The Pac-10 makes an offer to Utah to get to 12 and a championship game. The Big 10 decides not to raid the Big East to try and both penetrate major urban markets on the coast and to force ND to join.

[SUUTbird]

Personally i kind of doubt it will come to this only for a few reasons. This is honestly (only on here) that ive heard of these super 16 team conferences, i thought they were only looking for 12 teams to have the 2 divisions and a conference championship? As far as i know Nebraska seems to be the only team that has shown considerable interest in moving into the Big Ten and Notre Dame has been refusing to join them for years as they enjoy being an independent. I know the Pac10 is looking at Colorado and Utah as possible choices to join and make the conference the Pac12 as both schools would fit into the mold of the other research schools the conference has. This is what i think may happen:

-Army and Navy will join the Big East along with an FCS team (going to go with Delaware or JMU since both are planning/undergoing stadium expansions.

-Colorado and Utah will join the Pac-10 bringing the conference to 12 teams while BYU heads to the Big XII (have heard about this as a possible choice for the Cougars)

-Boise State will join the MWC along with either a CUSA team (Houston, SMU?) or add a FCS move ups (Montana and Montana State?) Idaho may possibly want to make the move as well to keep the "rivalry" strong.

-Cal Poly and/or UC-Davis will join the WAC and the Dakotas, SUU will be merged into the Big Sky Conference.

Maybe a little far fetched in some areas but then crazier things have happened, will be interesting to see how this shakedown changes things in college football, now they only need to add a playoff system but thats an topic for another day...

I'm glad you made it out of your house.



Exciting, crazy things have been developing in college football since you moved into that house above. In all honesty you must be joking, because every sports fan has heard all of these rumors--they're everywhere.

Fist off that sucks i just bought that place !! And second i dont have cable but i just found several articles on it as honestly i havent really been looking into it to much (got national guard and school) however i see your point and ill be sure to be more prepared in the future

[ASUMountaineer]

I'm glad you made it out of your house.



Exciting, crazy things have been developing in college football since you moved into that house above. In all honesty you must be joking, because every sports fan has heard all of these rumors--they're everywhere.

Fist off that sucks i just bought that place !! And second i dont have cable but i just found several articles on it as honestly i havent really been looking into it to much (got national guard and school) however i see your point and ill be sure to be more prepared in the future

I'm just messing with you man, and thanks for your service. That place is nice though, little overhead to maintain it. It's crazy, the rumors are changing, what seems like, by the minute. I don't know why, but I can't stop reading about the possible realignments.

[CAA Flagship]

Wake me up after the dust settles.

The Big East will not take 3 private schools as mentioned earlier (Nova, Army, Navy).
Old Dominion is going nowhere in this economy. But if the Big East comes calling, football will have a 2-3 year lag.

[mlbowl]

Former Griz QB & coach, Craig Ochs' opinion on the Griz possibly moving up...

Asked about growing rumors that UM might move up to the Football Bowl Subdivision Ochs said the school and state would have to go in with their eyes open.

“If you’re going to do it you need to do the blueprint that Boise (State) did,” he said. “If you do what Idaho did, even though Idaho had a great (football) year last year and they’re starting to turn that program around, they had a lot of years there they just didn’t do very well.

“Boise, they just made a commitment,” Ochs added. “They sat there and said, ‘we’re going to make a I-A jump and we’re going to do it the right way with facilities . . . recruiting and everything.’”

Ochs sees such a move for Montana as “really exciting” on one hand because of the fan base and support, but he also said it will take “a significant financial commitment by the school and . . . its donors to pull that off.”

While Montana is the top dog in Big Sky Conference circles, especially in football, moving into the Mountain West or the WAC certainly would change the competitive climate, Ochs said.

[AppMan]

Could a third division emerge from the aftermath of these moves? Seems to me the next logical step. When the dust settles I wouldn't be suprised to see 4 super conferences with the Big XII & Big East gone forever.

If the Big Ten adds Neb, Missouri, Rutgers, Syracuse, and Notre Dame. If the Pac Ten takes Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State. If the SEC raids the ACC of Miami, FSU, Clemson, and Ga Tech. If the ACC counters by taking in WVA, Pitt, and UConn. A good friend in the business thinks Vandy is not happy in the SEC and could wind up being the 4th replacement team. If so, with the likes of Baylor, Iowa Sate, Kansas, K State, Louisville, S Fla, and Cincinnati all left searching for a home, how fierce will the competitoin be to land that coveted spot in the SEC? That will leave CUSA, Mountain West, WAC, MAC, & SunBelt out of any possible ties to the upper crust. Around 60 schools looking for some identity. I can guarantee you it won't be in the FCS.

Personally i kind of doubt it will come to this only for a few reasons. This is honestly (only on here) that ive heard of these super 16 team conferences, i thought they were only looking for 12 teams to have the 2 divisions and a conference championship? As far as i know Nebraska seems to be the only team that has shown considerable interest in moving into the Big Ten and Notre Dame has been refusing to join them for years as they enjoy being an independent. I know the Pac10 is looking at Colorado and Utah as possible choices to join and make the conference the Pac12 as both schools would fit into the mold of the other research schools the conference has. This is what i think may happen:

-Army and Navy will join the Big East along with an FCS team (going to go with Delaware or JMU since both are planning/undergoing stadium expansions.

-Colorado and Utah will join the Pac-10 bringing the conference to 12 teams while BYU heads to the Big XII (have heard about this as a possible choice for the Cougars)

-Boise State will join the MWC along with either a CUSA team (Houston, SMU?) or add a FCS move ups (Montana and Montana State?) Idaho may possibly want to make the move as well to keep the "rivalry" strong.

-Cal Poly and/or UC-Davis will join the WAC and the Dakotas, SUU will be merged into the Big Sky Conference.

Maybe a little far fetched in some areas but then crazier things have happened, will be interesting to see how this shakedown changes things in college football, now they only need to add a playoff system but thats an topic for another day...

News must have a hard time getting into backwoods of Utah. My only guess is the horse gave out a few months back. Did you actually say Utah to the PAC 10? I hope BYU has better intel than you or else they'll be joining a conference that no longer exists.

[Saint3333]

He also mentioned Army, Navy, and an FCS school to the Big East. Memphis and Central Florida would be well ahead of those programs.

[lizrdgizrd]

Oklahoma working on getting into the SEC:

http://www.kctv5.com/sports/23860558/detail.html

Oklahoma is currently working on petitioning to enter the SEC, but must find another university to enter the league with them, sources said.

This is the first article I've seen predicting Texas and TA&M going to the Big 10. I've always hear them, TTech, OU, and OSU going to Pac 10.

[danefan]

Interestingly, A Nova fan just posted on AGS that there is word that if the Big East is looking for teams after this shakeup it is looking at the following 3:

Army
Navy
Villanova

Apparently the Big East will make it financially feasible for Villanova with an incentive package.

Apparently the Villanova to the Big East rumor may have some legs.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10216/1077486-233.stm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Marinatto again dismissed the Internet rumors that Central Florida and Memphis were going to receive invitations to join the conference, but he said that there have been some discussions about Villanova making the jump to Division I-A football and that could be one viable option for the conference to grow without upsetting its 16-team basketball alignment.

EDIT - sorry missed the other thread - viewtopic.php?f=4&t=17326" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[billsheets]

why would delaware,montana,appy state, uni, or any of the playoff perennial teams want to be a small fish in the ocean when you can be a much bigger fish in a pond? Yeah I know very few fcs schools come out in the black, especially when playoff travel expenses are added in, but is waiting until you're good enough to compete for a chance to go to the tidy bowl and it's 350,000 payout,which you have to share with you're conference mates really better than competing on the field for a national championship? How's that working out for ya western kentucky?

[∞∞∞]

why would delaware,montana,appy state, uni, or any of the playoff perennial teams want to be a small fish in the ocean when you can be a much bigger fish in a pond?

[Big McLargehuge]

why would delaware,montana,appy state, uni, or any of the playoff perennial teams want to be a small fish in the ocean when you can be a much bigger fish in a pond? Yeah I know very few fcs schools come out in the black, especially when playoff travel expenses are added in, but is waiting until you're good enough to compete for a chance to go to the tidy bowl and it's 350,000 payout,which you have to share with you're conference mates really better than competing on the field for a national championship? How's that working out for ya western kentucky?

Well...speaking on Montana terms, we were ranked higher in the Sagarins, by a good margin, over any of the remaining WAC teams. If Montana moves to the WAC it would be more akin to Marshall in the MAC and I'm confident of that...but without the other programs in the MAC that are on the upswing...so it would be more like Marshall circa late 90s playing in the Sun Belt...which just is stupid.


I'm very much on the fence on the whole move-up thing when it comes to Montana, but its an inevitability at this point with the way the finances of the college football landscape are going and I'd rather move up when we could top a conference, even if it is the Sun Belt West, than wait until the WAC is completely gone and the only western options are the Pac-12 and Mountain West, which would have little need to raid the Big Sky when C-USA still has schools in Texas. Either way there will be some lousy conference in the west to pop up since there needs to be a lower level but I'd rather at least make Montana marketable by dominating the WAC for a potential Mountain West move than just be another founding member of a football-only conference or something ten years down the road.


In general I'm pissed off over the whole drastic re-alignment that's happening since my fence leaning was towards staying in the FCS before this because we are quite comfortable where we sit and the top FCS programs have been able to attract better talent than they have in recent memory. Now my view of the FCS in ten years isn't exactly as level and happy as I had imagined a few months ago. I'm more pissed at BYU than anything since the dominoes had started to fall but stopped fairly early on...and then BYU did this move that has already affected the Mountain West and WAC and may have reverberations affecting another five conferences depending on how things shake up. Once one school moves then someone else has to be brought in to replace them, then that conference has to replace that school, then that conference has to replace that school, yadda yadda yadda.



I want to see where the WAC goes with this...with BYU involved in other sports they're still something, but are they really? BYU still hasn't committed to this so who knows...but if they want their football independence, which seems a given, then the Mountain West isn't going to keep them around for everything else. In the case that BYU does go WAC in other sports does the WAC just simply replace the schools that have been lost and bring in three new schools, be it from the bottom rung of the Mountain West and C-USA or through FCS means?

Texas State will be in the WAC before long, that much I'm fairly confident in since that seems like a match made in heaven. Otherwise who knows. With the way the dominoes fall it may involve the Big Sky staying intact and the Conference-USA replenishing their coffers with schools like Appalachian State and Old Dominion.



Financially, if it makes any sense for Montana to move up it will happen, but I have my doubts if we'd be any better off in the WAC having to add sports and programs than we are just sitting pretty in the Big Sky. Then the whole Montana State thing comes into play.

[SuperHornet]

We've been discussing this ad infinitum since Fresneck made the move. Supposedly, Sac's still on the list. The problem with that is that the two reasons for the Sac jump are now gone. Sac will need help from UCFE, Cow Poly, Montana, and possibly CatMom. The problem with that scenario is that the Griz will probably get caught up in Idaho-Boise internal politics. My Hornet buddies may disagree, but unless UCFE/Cow Poly can handle leaving the Big West, I don't think Sac will go without Montana.

[catatonic]

you're list is okay but not much logic in it. what schools are ready to move up if the invite goes out? i keep reading on here (been lurking for some time) about Montana being - at best - on the fence but every time these realignments come up the list you guys make dont seem to make a whole lot of sense.

[S F State Gaters]

conference realignment for FBS is entirely about the BCS- teams trying to get in the BCS or in closer proximity to it. Since the MWC invited Fresno State and Nevada, the 11-team MWC (including a now gaffled BYU) is in a weird no-fly, demilitarized zone between BCS AQ and non-AQ, a place that the Big East belongs in but seems to have gotten grandfathered out of. The now 6-team WAC, the SBC and MAC are now viewed by the AQ, the MWC, and (possibly) the CUSA as glorified FCS schools, within the context of FBS... the hierarchy is just getting more rigid.

Any FCS program making the transition to FBS is facing this heavily tiered environment and good luck to 'em because the landscape is not at all the same as the one Boise State, USF, or UConn went into a mere decade plus ago.